October 1, 2010

Examining 1987's Ray Stevens...

One of the funniest songs that Ray Stevens recorded during the second half of the 1980's was "Sex Symbols". I'm quite sure a lot of people who hear the song or have seen him perform the song in concert are well aware of the duo partnership that's being spoofed. "Sex Symbols" for those unaware is a song that comments on the sexual appeal of several male celebrities but for comedic purposes there's also playful mentions of celebrities not exactly considered sex symbol material. Ray sings the song as a duet between himself and a man named Julio...now, by giving out that bit of information you now know that the song is spoofing the unlikely but successful vocal partnership of Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias. For the record, though, Ray doesn't imitate Willie Nelson...so for those curious and wish to seek out the song for yourselves it won't feature him impersonating Willie. Ray does a broad impression of Julio, though! In concert Ray would sing the song as if he were a ventriloquist...with a dummy of Julio sitting on his lap. An in concert performance of the song can be found on Ray Stevens Live, the home video he released in 1993. "Sex Symbols", as you can see from the image, was released in 1987. Although the song was pretty popular in concert and it received a lot of exposure through television appearances during that era it didn't make the national music charts. The inclusion of "Sex Symbols" as well as "I'm My Own Grandpaw", "Three Legged Man", and "Cool Down Willard" on the 1987 Crackin' Up album led some narrow minded critics of the time to label the album R-rated and unsuitable for the family. Can you believe such nonsense? I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't myself seen a few of the critic's reactions to the album.

First off, Ray never to my knowledge made any statements that his albums would be family friendly and lack any kind of adult-themes. Secondly, why would critics rate an album based upon pre-existing expectations? Too many times music critics tend to have this vision of what an album is suppose to sound like or be like and if the album doesn't measure up to their standards then they trash the album in their reviews. All of Ray's comedy albums are different from one another. 1987's Crackin' Up is way different than 1986's Surely You Joust, for example. 1991's #1 With a Bullet is vastly different than 1997's Hum It or 1985's I Have Returned. I think that critics get this sound or this expectation in their minds before they listen to something and if it's different than what they expected they tend to dislike it...even if the material is still top-notch and funny.

It's hard to imagine boisterous and bouncy novelty songs, which Crackin' Up is abundant with, could ever be labeled "graphic", "adult-oriented", or "R-rated". Such over-the-top adjectives are misleading and could cause a potential customer to think that the album is filled with smut and four letter words, etc etc. The bottom line is critics need to be more responsible with how they critique.

The songs I mentioned are harmless and witty...silly as well...Ray, I don't believe, had any subliminal messages at all when deciding to record those songs. The only song that one could consider hard-hitting or pointed is the opening track, "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?", which skewered televangelists and the concept of millionaire preachers. That particular song was the main focal point of the year for Ray...and the 1987 album was assembled to, I assume, cash-in on the Rolex single. It wasn't long after that single was issued and had become a hit that MCA released Greatest Hits, Volume Two which featured the song as the opening track.

"Three Legged Man" is a comical song about a man who runs off with another man's wife. The wife's husband happens to have a peg leg...and in an effort to create havoc the man steals the husband's peg leg in the early morning darkness. As the song goes on we're told of the adventures of the couple as they flee from the one legged husband in hot pursuit...meanwhile, the one legged husband has some news of his own to deliver once he catches up with the cheating duo. "Cool Down Willard" has some fun with Willard Scott, the weatherman. In that song Ray sings of how his wife, grandmother, and his aunt all have a thing for Willard and they all congregate every weekday morning to catch his weather reports and marvel at his clothes and hair. To make matters worse, the wife spends most of her day shopping and talking on the telephone with her friends bragging about how wonderful Willard is. Does this sound like a song that's adult-oriented or graphic? Did critics consider the swiping of a peg leg to be graphic? What's with those kinds of critics?

"I'm My Own Grandpaw" had been around since the 1940's...Ray's version obviously is produced and arranged with a much more modern sound. The song tells the story of how a complicated family tree is planted. A man ends up becoming married to his step-grandmother after his wife becomes the mother of his mother. It's a very funny tale of step-children and step-parents and how, through marriage, a family tree can exist relating everyone to one another. Some critics have analyzed the song line by line...I'm referring to the original by Lonzo and Oscar...in an attempt to show that the song stays within the boundary of legalized marriages. The intentional omitting of the word, step, in front of brother, sister, mother, and father is where the humor comes from.

All in all Crackin' Up is a very funny album filled with a lot of nutty, silly songs living up to it's title. The album is NOT this adult-oriented, R-rated smut fest that critics would have you believe. Other albums from Ray Stevens in 1987 include...

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About Me

I'm a big fan of what's called classic country music. I love the HEE-HAW television program and I like watching vintage cartoons. I have four blogs...the main one is devoted to Ray Stevens. My Ray Stevens blog is written from a fan's perspective. The opinions and expressions discussed in this blog are of my own creation and should not be taken as representation of Ray Stevens and his office staff. I'm simply a dedicated, though opinionated, fan of Ray's who likes discussing his music and career. This fan-created blog page is something that I started when I got fed up with the lack of accurate information about Ray Stevens that was circulating on the internet.

2012

The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music became available on February 28th; It's an impressive set featuring 9-CD's and a booklet; There are 108 recordings altogether and the booklet gives in-depth detail about each of the songs and their impact on society; Ray covers practically all the major comedy/novelty songs that have been recorded over the last 60 plus years; It's a marvelous collection!!

2014

Ray's memoir, Nashville, is a great book! If you don't have a copy I suggest you purchase one...any fan of Ray Stevens should get this book.

2016

Ray's recording, "Dear America", demonstrates that America is still the greatest country on Earth regardless of internal conflicts and imperfections; A loving tribute to the country and a defiant plea that the country's values and traditions should still continue to be championed and fought for; Excellent recording!

2017

Season One DVD of Ray's television series; It contains the first 13 episodes broadcast on local PBS stations from earlier this year; These episodes originally aired on RFD-TV but they were repeated on PBS stations starting this past January; Some local PBS stations aired all 26 episodes from the RFD run while other local PBS stations aired the first 13 episodes and then began airing the PBS exclusives which became available over the summer months; Future DVD releases are expected.

2017

Season Two of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville series; This volume consists of episodes guest starring the likes of Bill Anderson, Con Hunley, Williams and Ree, Leroy Van Dyke, and many more!! A perfect companion to Season One; Each season contains 13 half hour episodes.

2018

The Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom officially opened to the public on January 18, 2018; This date is signifcant in the career of Ray Stevens in that it's the date he arrived in Nashville in 1962; The facility houses an entire array of entertainment from the main showroom to a piano bar, a gift shop, and it also houses his recording studios for audio and video productions; The upcoming Sixth Season of his PBS television series, CabaRay Nashville, is being taped at the showroom; These episodes represent the first to be taped at the venue.